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Lagos Episode 5: Ferreting into Disaster
This run was a "embarrass and annoy" job, sponsored by John Karmichael, the Horizon Johnson we've worked with before (see Lagos Episode 2: Beware the Lagosian Triangle). We are provided the location of the Prince Abioye’s menagerie, and instructed to steal the technomancer ferret that the prince won at Episode 5’s auction, and generally disrupt things there. He wants us to avoid unnecessary bloodshed (which we cheerfully ignore) and that we can keep any other animals we take but he wants the ferret for himself. He offers us 8000 nuyen. Captain Jack attempts to negotiate for more, but he can't budge the offer. Valkris sends her new Stormcloud blimp drone to scout and observe the terrain. A central compound is surrounded by 4 ecosystems which are themselves surrounded by electric fences and gates. It also has an on-site power plant as well as several other buildings (a manor house, an aviary, a storage facility). Circe scouts the place astrally as well. The west compound is marshy with large herbivores and alligators. The southern one is a savannah with a pride of lions (some awakened, as Circe describes on her astral scouting). The northern one is a rainy season savannah with lots of grass and giraffes, elephants, and rhinos. The eastern one seems empty except for rocky hills and caves until nightfall, when the drone collects images of unusual 8-legged animals. Valkris sends the image to the team, and Circe recognizes them as very rare paracritters from North America, incubuses. They are carnivores, nocturnal and resemble land-based octopuses, 6 m from tentacle-to-tentacle, which they use to grab prey and climb. They also use the reflection power to hunt (reflecting what the prey desires and devouring what is lured in). They are severely allergic to sunlight. During the surveillance phase, the Stormcloud records delivery trucks arriving and unloading lots of animals as food for the inhabitants. They seem to come every 2 days and the Stormcloud is able to track them back to the village supplying the trucks. Circe notices that there are a large number of spirits about, doing tasks that normally are accomplished by technology (maintaining the environments). The buildings are coated with astrally active plants, and she can't see through. Even the aviary has double-paned windows - between the panes is some sort of living astral thing and she can't see through. Dr. Pie tries to bind a spirit to assist him, but it resists him and he almost goes unconscious. While he is recovering, he and Valkris prepare a hypersound emitter that blasts sound in frequencies that we can't hear but animals can. We hope that it will help us drive off attacking animals, if needed. The team decides to take over the trucks and arrive as if delivering goods. This they easily accomplish, halting the trucks on the rough road and sending the drivers home with a bribe of Raptor Bucks and naira. Despite claiming to know how to drive, Valkris immediately drives one truck off the road. Once they recover from that mishap, they set off for the compound, slowly. When they arrive, a guard accuses them of being late. Circe stun bolts him. The situation deteriorates rapidly. Captain Jack opens the mag lock and finds a small security office by the front gate. We pry open the front gate with the winch-and-pulley system. There are cameras about and we believe someone is already alerted to our presence. We hear helicopters preparing for take off. Two APCs and a motorcycle approach. Valkris tries to send her Ares Knight Errant P4 to blow out their tires, but it completely fails and darts off. To add to the chaos, we free the load of animals and the herd stampedes away from the hypersound emitter (which we turn on) and into the compound. The two APCs arrive, both having machine guns on top. Something spooks the livestock and they start to stampede back towards us. Valkris's Fly Spy reports that there are three more APCs approaching and two helicopters prepped for take off. Chloe is remarkably effective in the battle which follows, damaging all the vehicles. Circe and Dr. Pie fend off the spirits attacking us, and Dr. Pie goes unconscious during the fight. Once the vehicles are destroyed beyond use, their occupants emerge to fight us and are driven off. Captain Jack attacks first with his firearm and then with his spurs. Valkris mostly hides behind cows and sends her United Oil drone after the guards. By the end of the fight, Chloe and Circe are both hurt and Dr. Pie is unconscious, but Chloe manages to patch all of them up fairly well. The Fly Spy reports that the remaining guards have created a freeze foam barricade further up the road. Captain Jack tries to hack the security system to redirect the alert. Aided by the Fly Spy which provides him with an overlay of the terrain, Captain Jack sneaks to the power plant and climbs it to find a smoke stack on the top. Valkris's Bust-a-Move drone, packed with explosives, falls down the smoke stack, dancing until it explodes. The power to the electrical fences abruptly dies. Meanwhile, back at the security gate, a security guard on the intercom is asking if things are okay, in Yoruba. Chloe tries to use her faulty Yoruba to convince them to leave us alone, but it only seems to make them angry, yelling threats. The helicopters will return in 10 minutes, we are told, bearing reinforcements. Valkris pilots her lockpicking drone along the inner part of the fence enclosing the lions, to the security gate there. It manages to open the mag lock and then the regular lock, but isn't strong enough to open the gate. The lions themselves (some awakened) seem smart enough to figure things out. (OOC: We break for 1 week) Dr. Pie tries to over summon a spirit and immediately falls unconscious, blood pouring out of every orifice. Chloe provides first aid. Circe and Dr. Pie try to locate the opposing mage who at first sends a spirit to attack them, and then flees. Meanwhile, Valkris's blimp drone keeping watch overhead spots the departing helicopters. One explodes in flight. The blimp also reports which animals are kept in warded enclosures (the enclosures pointed out by Circe). Circe, in astral form, goes from area to area, freeing them (Awakened gorillas, an Awakened rhino, an Awakened hippo and one enclosure of incubuses). The opposing mage sends another spirit to attack us. Dr. Pie subverts it and sends it back to attack its old master. Meanwhile Captain Jack attacks the two guards at the aviary. He kills both easily, climbs to the building's windows and breaks in. He frees birds. Circe arrives in astral form to break the ward around a lesser roc. Captain Jack provides an escape for it and then hides. Outside, the lions have made short work of the remaining guards, except for one man on a motorcycle and one APC. The motorcycle is scooped up by the roc who drops it from a great height and then eats its victim. The APC makes a break for it, pursued by lions. Circe stun balls the lions so they don't attack the team. The team gathers near the storage building, and uses Dr. Pie's power supply to activate the maglock, which Captain Jack hacks. Inside, they steal everything not nailed down (and one thing that is, a wall-mounted weapon). They also take comm. links and the remaining motorcycle from outside. = Quotes = * Steve: "Whoa whoa whoa... you can't just "go ninja"!" * Chloe, trying to reassure security guards (in Yoruba): My hovercraft is full of eels! Security guy: What? Chloe: I will not buy this record; it is scratched! You great poof! * GM: "There's a large hippo going to the center of the compound" Chloe: "I'm on it." *points gun* * GM: "Surplus Cerberus" Players: "Say that 5 times fast" = People met = * John Karmichael (Horizon Johnson) = Rewards = * 4 Karma (+1 for Steve for MVP) * 8000 nuyen